Dreamtigers

In an interview with Borges (Conversations with Jorge Luis Borges, Souvenir Press), Richard Burgin asked: "Of all the books you've published, do you have a favourite book?" Borges replied: "Of all my books, yes. The book called El Hacedor (Dreamtigers). Yes, because it wrote itself...when I go back to that book, I find I've said the things I had to say, worked out the images I had to work out."

Dreamtigers is the most personal of Borges' books. It is a collection of poems, stories, sketches and apocryphal quotations which constitutes a subtly unified self-revelation. Through every page runs the unique personality of the author, the hacedor, or maker, of dreams.

The recurring theme of the book is the poets inner life as it encounters reality. In each personal conflict with the external world Borges reaffirms his own consciousness as the one surety among surrounding doubts. Through his capacity to dream and to sing he finds the courage for a zestful acceptance of life.

A vastly cultured and gifted writer, Borges presents the interplay of imagination and reality and explores the themes of an atomic and near-interplanetary universe as he continues his search for the secrets of the human personality.

Cover Illustration: Mike Hasted